sad Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective experiencing or showing sorrow or unhappiness
    • feeling sad because his dog had died
    • Better by far that you should forget and smile / Than that you should remember and be sad"- Christina Rossetti
  2. adjective satellite of things that make you feel sad
    • sad news
    • she doesn't like sad movies
    • it was a very sad story
    • When I am dead, my dearest, / Sing no sad songs for me"- Christina Rossetti
  3. adjective satellite bad; unfortunate
    distressing; pitiful; lamentable; deplorable; sorry.
    • my finances were in a deplorable state
    • a lamentable decision
    • her clothes were in sad shape
    • a sorry state of affairs

WordNet

Sad adjective
Etymology
OE. sad sated, tired, satisfied, firm, steadfast, AS. sæd satisfied, sated; akin to D. zat, OS. sad, G. tt, OHG. sat, sar, saddr, Goth. saps, Lith. sotus, L. sat, satis, enough, satur sated, Gr. to satiate enough. Cf. Assets, Sate, Satiate, Satisfy Satire.
Wordforms
comparative Sadder ; superlative Saddest
Definitions
  1. Sated; satisfied; weary; tired. Obs.
    Yet of that art they can not waxen sad, For unto them it is a bitter sweet. Chaucer.
  2. Heavy; weighty; ponderous; close; hard. Obs., except in a few phrases; as, sad bread.
    His hand, more sad than lump of lead. Spenser.
    Chalky lands are naturally cold and sad. Mortimer.
  3. Dull; grave; dark; somber; -- said of colors. "Sad-colored clothes." Walton.
    Woad, or wade, is used by the dyers to lay the foundation of all sad colors. Mortimer.
  4. Serious; grave; sober; steadfast; not light or frivolous. Obs. "Ripe and sad courage." Bacon.
    Which treaty was wisely handled by sad and discrete counsel of both parties. Ld. Berners.
  5. Affected with grief or unhappiness; cast down with affliction; downcast; gloomy; mournful.
    First were we sad, fearing you would not come; Now sadder, that you come so unprovided. Shak.
    The angelic guards ascended, mute and sad. Milton.
  6. Afflictive; calamitous; causing sorrow; as, a sad accident; a sad misfortune.
  7. Hence, bad; naughty; troublesome; wicked. Colloq. "Sad tipsy fellows, both of them." I. Taylor. ✍ Sad is sometimes used in the formation of self-explaining compounds; as, sad-colored, sad-eyed, sad-hearted, sad-looking, and the like. Bartlett. Syn. -- Sorrowful; mournful; gloomy; dejected; depressed; cheerless; downcast; sedate; serious; grave; grievous; afflictive; calamitous.
Sad transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To make sorrowful; to sadden. Obs.
    How it sadded the minister's spirits! H. Peters.

Webster 1913